Video of Judge Beating Daughter Rocks Texas Town

November 2, 2011 |

Writer Colton Rhoades

Video of Judge Beating Daughter Rocks Texas Town (Credit: Silmar2008)

The Internet is lighting up today with reports of and reactions to a story out of Corpus Christi, Texas, that claims a county judge is shown in a YouTube video beating his daughter in 2004.

Hillary Adams, the daughter of Aransas county judge William Adams, told Texas TV station KRIS that she uploaded the video Thursday, which she said shows her father beating her after discovering her downloading music on the Internet. The video is already on track to attract millions of hits, and the Aransas County courthouse has been flooded with phone calls. An investigation has been undertaken by the sheriff’s office.

Hillary Adams said she furtively set up a camera to capture what she realized was physical abuse at the hands of her father. She said that because of her father’s position in the community, no one believed her that such incidents occurred.

“My father’s harassment was getting really bad, so I decided to finally publish the video I had been sitting on for seven years,” she told KRIS.

William Adams later gave an interview in which he said of the incident, “It’s not as bad as it looks on tape,” and that “It happened years ago… I apologized.”

The family drama is now playing out very publicly, with the media attention and online comments. Hillary Adams said she didn’t just post the video for revenge, but as a form of therapy.

“I told him that I had the video, and he acted like he had nothing to worry about,” Hillary Adams said. “And I said, ‘I can post the video of you beating me on the internet,’ and he said, ‘well, you can do that if it makes you feel better.’ So I did.”

She also denies that her father apologized to her for the incident, and said his comments have minimized the seriousness of the incidents.

“Wow, that is a perfect example of his making light of the situation,” she said. “He is a shining example of the way he would treat us. I just can’t believe he would say something like, he doesn’t think it’s a big deal.”